0:08

The following show includes stories

0:10

of sound baths, ketamine, Pittsburgh,

0:13

improv, comedy, dating, and a

0:16

snake curse. If any of that

0:18

of friends you, if you're faint of heart,

0:20

simply switch this off and fire up

0:22

one of my many fine films instead.

0:25

Might I suggest Jurassic Part

0:30

Hi? Yes, so

0:37

I'm guessing you figure this out. But that that

0:40

wasn't Jeff Goldblum. Hi. I'm George

0:42

Eva Lotis, and I'm a comedian

0:45

actor nightmare l

0:47

a multi hyphene. George is smart

0:49

and funny and pulls off a great

0:52

Jeff Goldblum, not just because he sounds

0:54

like him, but he's also wiry

0:56

and handsome, with dark features in

0:59

a young Goldblum way. Like

1:01

most comedians, George is also pretty

1:03

neurotic, and one of the ways he channels

1:05

that neurosis is by tracking

1:08

everything. I write anything

1:10

down that resonates with me, Like my notes on my

1:12

phone are like a compulsive compendium.

1:15

Like if I read a book, I transcribe

1:18

every passage that matters

1:21

to me. I do believe in like building

1:24

your own meaning. His notes

1:26

are meticulous lists

1:28

of every book he's read, recipes he's

1:30

tried, quote stats down to minute

1:32

details from conversations.

1:35

So while I could keep trying to paint

1:37

a picture of George's personality, instead

1:40

I'm gonna let him read the results of just a

1:42

few of the BuzzFeed quizzes he's taken. Yeah,

1:45

I am C three p O because I'm

1:47

neurotic and people

1:50

please are sex in the city. I'm

1:52

a Charlotte, a romantic, annoyingly

1:54

moral, literary character. You were

1:56

holding Caulfield, highly intelligent and sensitive,

1:59

but also very nicole. If you don't

2:01

get it together, you might have an emotional

2:03

breakdown. Can you even imagine

2:05

keeping track of every online

2:07

personality quiz you've ever taken? Harry

2:10

Potter, I'm a Hufflepuff. I'm loyal, honest,

2:12

and kind of dog. Sometimes

2:15

get accused of being aloof, but I'm just picking marks

2:17

and wreck Rob Lowe's character. Your positivity

2:19

can be off putting, but it's good and he's got more

2:22

he can keep going. Maybe

2:24

I should just cut two muppets.

2:26

Dr Bunsen Honeydew. Dr Bunsen

2:29

Honey. Do here at Muppet Labs where

2:31

the future is being made today.

2:33

You're smart, inventive and stylish.

2:36

Those time consuming repairs,

2:38

Yes, George sees bits of himself

2:40

in each of these quizzes, like he does

2:43

love science what can be proven backed

2:45

up. But in l A, in the scene

2:47

he's in, every person he meets is

2:49

obsessed with crystals and psychics

2:52

and human potential and stars. I

2:54

would say that the

2:57

dates I've been on in l A, that

3:00

will come up like, oh you're a Gemini,

3:03

aren't you guys crazy? It's just been one

3:05

dating disaster over and over.

3:08

Like on our third date, she said, I

3:11

wonder what you'd be like if you move through the world with

3:13

confidence. My ex

3:15

was really confident. He was

3:17

often on cocaine, but it was incredible

3:19

how he would walk in a room and just charm everyone. Or

3:22

the woman who read his stars and insisted

3:25

you have the same chart as Obama, which

3:28

is interesting because you're not very presidential. So

3:30

anytime he falls for a girl, the

3:32

astrology thing always seems to be a roadblock.

3:35

Truly, every time a friend would ask, I'd be

3:37

like, it's wonderful. She's wonderful except

3:40

for this one thing. She

3:43

really really believes in astrology.

3:46

From Kaleidoscope and I Heeart podcast,

3:49

I'm Mongishtiular Welcome

3:52

the Skyline Drive h

4:30

Chapter one easy target.

4:35

Back when I started working on this show and ask

4:37

people what they thought about astrology, everyone

4:40

immediately wanted to talk about dating. When

4:43

astrology shows up in a d you

4:46

can kind of feel like a slow down in traffic,

4:49

like should I be looking for ways

4:51

around this, or if it's gonna

4:53

be squire or are we're just gonna be sitting here

4:55

for hours? I think if you

4:57

make it seriously, get them,

5:00

I'm kind of putting you in the Mary

5:02

Anne Williamson anti back thir camp

5:04

just a little bit. I'm talking

5:06

to some person, and really,

5:09

because I'm a Sagittarius,

5:12

i am bitch. It's

5:15

like I don't know that fire bitch. Actually

5:19

I too, and I'm not a

5:21

Sagittarius. And

5:24

truthfully, I'm guessing a lot of you were waiting

5:26

for our big dating episode. It's

5:28

not that we didn't do the interviews. I

5:31

only care about astrology when it relates

5:33

to love. I mean, I've been on dates where

5:35

people ask my sign and the problem

5:37

and maybe this is why I am not

5:39

so into astrology is that I

5:41

think I'm the most universally reviled

5:44

sign, which is Gemini.

5:47

I use it more for the signs I shouldn't date,

5:49

which is like Sagittarius

5:51

not great gem And I

5:54

no why I never a deal break. We

5:57

get a lot of haters and

5:59

now here I am a the flying as a weed. Even though I just said

6:01

a second thing, I don't believe in it. But nonetheless, there's

6:03

a lot of Gemini haters out there who will

6:05

say, oh, you're a duplicitous liar,

6:08

and I'm like, look, I don't even want to try to defend myself

6:10

against that because it doesn't make any sense

6:13

in the first place. I asked him what his star

6:15

sign was and he said Aquarius, and I

6:17

sent like the ghost face emoji,

6:20

and he was like, what's the problem.

6:26

But as I listened to more and more stories about

6:28

how my friends were interacting with astrology, I

6:30

realized I wasn't doing a good job of articulating

6:33

part of what I wanted from this show. Like

6:36

I was trying to get out how astrology is just this

6:38

ambient presence in Indian life, this

6:41

ever present hum that exists in the background.

6:45

So I asked my friend numbered that about it. In

6:47

India, the relationship with astrology

6:49

is like it's like smoking, Like you might

6:52

not smoke, but like you're going to

6:54

get secondhand astrology anyway. Number

6:56

those parents are diplomats, and whether

6:58

they were posted in Russia or Canada or

7:01

Poland or wherever, she was always teaching

7:03

new friends about Indian culture, from

7:05

how to celebrate the volley to why

7:07

a cup of chi pears so nicely with

7:09

the chili cheese toast. Her

7:12

family's whole story is interesting to me. Her

7:15

parents actually met as students training

7:17

to join the Foreign service, and so they were

7:19

doing all of their training together. And the way that

7:21

my mom tells the story is she

7:24

might kill me a little bit, but it's such a cute story.

7:27

When her dad met her mom and witnessed her

7:29

brilliance and classes, he just

7:31

couldn't get her out of his head. So with each

7:33

posting he would conveniently figure

7:35

out a way to be close by. So I think

7:37

he chased her all around India until she married

7:39

him. He's stubborn,

7:42

a Taurus, and I worked

7:44

out for him. Her parents

7:46

are from very different backgrounds. My

7:49

mother comes from a Punjabisik family

7:51

from your Delhi. My father is

7:53

from Hindu Uria family,

7:56

and so no one would

7:58

ever arrange their marriage as there are different religions,

8:01

different languages different. Often

8:03

when you're getting an arranged marriage, families are

8:05

looking for matches from the same community. So

8:07

there's little chance that these two would have ever been

8:09

paired up. But once they fell

8:12

in love, they just ignored

8:14

astrology. They found

8:16

their partner and they didn't need

8:18

it. But as much

8:20

as Number that has kind of avoided astrology

8:22

for most of her life or at least not

8:24

actively interacted with it as

8:27

a newly single person, she's found

8:29

the topic unavoidable. I

8:31

can stretch a metaphor to death. It

8:33

did feel like when you'd go to party and you're like, you're not a smoke

8:36

Rustan's like, just you could be part of the conversation,

8:39

hang out and have this moment and like now it'll

8:41

be like, oh my gosh, like mercury

8:43

is in retrograde again, and everyone's like, I'm

8:46

telling you, and then you can start chatting about the weird

8:48

ship that's happening in your life. In

8:50

America, astrology tends to be easy

8:52

shorthand for young romantics, and it's

8:54

often a crude sorting system. People

8:56

will just volunteer it for no reason. It'll

8:59

just be like here's how tall I am and I'm

9:01

a Scorpio and you're like, wow, that's

9:03

all I need to know. It's this persistent

9:05

stereotype that trails you around, allowing

9:08

people to judge you based on which thirty days

9:10

you were born, and everyone born

9:12

in that period is treated like they're exactly

9:14

the same. But it's funny

9:16

how even numbers that gets dragged

9:18

into this line of thinking. I

9:20

don't think I'm going into it being like so

9:23

and so is a Libra and so of course it's never going

9:25

to work. I don't actually know what that would mean. But I will

9:27

also do the thing where I'll be like, oh, yeah,

9:29

of course, another Aquarius. For some reason,

9:32

I keep dating them. I don't know what. I don't know what that is.

9:34

I'm trying. You can't go to why

9:36

are you asking? I

9:40

guess maybe we should have done a dating episode,

9:42

but instead I kept

9:44

coming back to trees. Well,

9:48

people who have to marry trees. Let

9:53

me explain. In

9:55

India, there's an astrological sign

9:57

called a mongolic. The word

10:00

literally means Mars cursed. That

10:02

is, you have Mars occupying your house

10:04

of love and marriage, and that curse

10:07

will supposedly cause a spouse to die early.

10:11

Being amonglic is treated with incredible

10:13

seriousness. In some cultures, Mongolics

10:15

are only allowed to marry other Mongolics. Luckily,

10:18

there's a workaround, since the curse

10:21

only affects your first marriage. Amonglic

10:23

will often have a first marriage to like a

10:25

clay pot which you can break afterwards

10:28

to transfer the curse away. Or some

10:30

people marry like I mentioned

10:33

a tree. Once

10:35

there was a tree and

10:37

she loved a little boy. You would

10:40

climb up for trunk. This

10:42

is way more intense than the giving

10:44

tree, though there's a full ceremony

10:47

in everything. This

10:50

is obviously highly controversial because

10:53

what does it mean that in a very modern and

10:55

progressive country individuals end

10:57

up having to undergo these weddings to satis

11:00

by a superstition, And

11:02

because it mostly affects women, or

11:04

is perceived to, the whole thing

11:07

is seen as anti feminist. Take

11:10

Arrived for example, Ry is one

11:12

of India's most famous celebs,

11:14

a Bollywood star, former Miss World.

11:17

I'm not good enough for your mother, and

11:19

you'd think I want to leave my family for you

11:22

after you've ruined my sister's life. She's

11:24

Amonglic and there are media reports

11:26

that she actually married two trees before

11:28

she could marry another Indian star, her

11:31

father in law the Bollywood legend,

11:33

I mean, Butcheon has actually scolded

11:35

the press saying, where is the tree? Show

11:37

me the tree, you know, kind of denying

11:40

the rumors. But it's hard

11:42

to know what the truth is. Rye's

11:44

family comes from a culture steeped in animist

11:46

in the tradition, but as one

11:48

of India's most watched celebrities, she's also

11:51

under intense pressure as a feminist

11:53

and as a role model for Indian values.

11:57

So if a tree gets married in the forest,

12:00

who really knows? Right? Anyway,

12:03

That's the kind of astrology I wanted to explore in

12:05

this series, the strange

12:07

and fantastic places the stars can take

12:10

you if you believe in it. But

12:13

that's not exactly what happened either. Astrology

12:17

just kept happening to me. It

12:20

didn't matter whether I believed or

12:24

not. Chapter

12:38

two, You're

12:40

a Good Snake. Yeah,

12:53

there is no question that George is a romantic.

12:56

But as he and I talked about dating and

12:58

love, our conversations

13:01

just kept getting pulled towards this question

13:03

of belief. I was a skeptic

13:05

from like great school. George

13:08

just can't stop questioning things. It's

13:11

been something innate since his childhood

13:13

in Pittsburgh, when he was dragged to

13:15

his family's Greek Orthodox church every

13:18

week. It was like this old man

13:20

in the skies telling us how to dress. Why

13:22

does he care what we wear? It's really

13:24

weird he sees through our clothes.

13:27

Doesn't make any sense. My dad would be

13:29

like, just put on a shoot. He

13:32

always felt like kind of a black sheep. He told

13:34

me he was bullied for being a

13:36

quote space cadet poet artist

13:39

even at art school. The competitive nature made

13:41

him feel like an outcast. And now

13:43

that he has all these wonderful friends

13:45

who he really identifies with, except

13:48

when it comes to New Age beliefs, maybe

13:51

it's just that he doesn't want to feel left

13:53

out again. You know, I really

13:55

wish I believed in this stuff because

13:57

you and your friends, the spiritual

14:00

friends, are so much happier, and

14:02

they have really open hearts too as a result,

14:05

because they really trust the universe, which

14:07

is something I can relate to. My parents

14:09

had such deep convictions about

14:11

spirituality, and as a kid, I just assumed

14:14

that the things my parents believed would one

14:16

day make sense to me, Like on my eighteenth

14:18

birthday or whatever, I just have this understanding

14:21

that would snap into place, and

14:23

until then I just keep going

14:25

through the motions. But

14:28

despite claiming he believes in nothing, George

14:30

is seemingly tried everything part

14:33

of its curiosity. But also he

14:36

seems particularly amenable whenever

14:38

a cute girl is involved. Like we went

14:40

to a sound bath, had friends through Carol reading

14:43

Friends Your Human Design, Chally

14:45

in touch with this psychic thing called the Accoon

14:48

language. She just had a

14:50

cold read on me. George is engaged

14:53

with countless experiments and belief

14:55

He just can't get off the experienced

14:57

treadmill. So when another date told him

15:00

maybe he should try ketamine to counter his

15:02

depression because it had helped

15:04

her, of course he tried it. So

15:06

I found this therapist and she

15:09

was like, Yeah, ketamine is not what i'd recommend for

15:11

your what you're going through. You have

15:14

really negative stories about yourself and

15:16

a lot of trauma, and you need to

15:18

sever the ties with those beliefs, and

15:20

for that, I'd recommend five

15:23

M E O D M T or the

15:25

poison of the Sonoran desert toad

15:28

to many people. Inhaling desert

15:30

toad poison to heal yourself might also

15:32

seem a little new ag but because

15:35

it was presented to George in this scientific

15:37

way, he was much more comfortable

15:40

with it, and as

15:42

the experience grew more intense, George

15:44

was drawn into this recent memory.

15:47

My friend and I were on a hike and this garter snake

15:50

slid across the hiking path really fast,

15:52

and she jumped back like, oh my God,

15:55

really scared, like definitely scared. And

15:57

I was like, immediately I saw it was a garter snake,

15:59

and I thought, oh, it's harmless. And

16:02

then while I was tripping, I thought, why

16:04

do I hurt myself with words and

16:07

self hate and this this depression.

16:10

I'm so cruel to myself. I wouldn't

16:13

even hurt a snake. And I don't even like snakes.

16:15

I feel nothing for them. And I started

16:18

laughing while I was tripping, and this phrase

16:20

popped up, which was you're a good

16:22

snake, and and I kept saying, you're a good

16:24

snake. You're allowed to be here, You're a

16:26

good snake, You're allowed to be here. All

16:29

this talk of snakes and shaman and

16:31

belief and skepticism,

16:33

it makes me think of this story my mom told me

16:35

when I interviewed her for this show. Um,

16:39

tell me a little bit about pregnancies and

16:41

bert. You guys had a hard

16:43

time having me. Was there anything

16:45

that indicated that you would have a child or wouldn't

16:47

have a child. No, they didn't drink

16:49

that far, didn't They at least

16:52

didn't tell us. One of the things I

16:54

don't often talk about is the miracle

16:56

of my own birth. For a number

16:58

of years, my parents had one carriage after

17:00

another. They couldn't carry a baby

17:02

to term. I think my mom ended up

17:04

in the hospital two or three times, and they

17:07

had five or six miscarriages. And

17:10

then when my mom was pregnant with

17:12

me, my grandfather tried something

17:14

different. Here's my mom telling

17:16

the story. He

17:18

went to the temple in Goa and

17:22

he lit a lamp and had the priests

17:24

like the lamp every day for you in

17:26

your own before you were born. They

17:28

prayed, they kept the flame going continuously

17:31

for nine months, and when I was finally

17:33

born, my parents named me Mongish

17:36

after that temple and Goa.

17:38

And so that's one story. The

17:41

other part is the science part. It's

17:44

less magical, but equally miraculous.

17:47

The pregnancy was so high risk that

17:50

the doctor put my mom on intense bed

17:52

ress I was in made

17:54

for nine months. Seven months. He said

17:56

I could take a little easier. It could sit up,

17:59

but not walk too much. But why were you

18:01

high risks? Because they

18:03

said that my own body wouldn't

18:06

love the fit is to grow, so they

18:08

had to fool it. And that's what they

18:10

did. The way my mom explains it, they had

18:12

to trick her body with thyroid pills

18:14

and barbiturates, and only once

18:16

they heard my heartbeat they let her

18:18

get up and start taking baths, but

18:21

only paths, no

18:24

shot. It's now standing. Wow,

18:26

m hm, pre precious magis.

18:30

These are stories I know, stories I've always

18:32

known. But as I chatted with

18:34

my mom, another story cropped

18:37

up, another possible reason for the

18:39

miscarriages, and this one I

18:42

definitely hadn't heard before. Once

18:44

I got my too, image to said the course was

18:46

on the Hortiko the family, and they

18:48

came on to me because I was bringing

18:51

the progeny in. What's the curse of the

18:53

family. It's something to do with the snakes.

18:56

What you haven't told me about the sumur before.

19:02

Every time I got pregnant, I'd see

19:04

the snake chasing

19:06

me everywhere. During every

19:08

miscarriage where they'd often lose the child

19:10

right before the three month mark. My

19:12

mom would have these horrible nightmares

19:14

about snakes. We grew up always

19:17

in the country, with lots of land

19:19

around. My mom's dad was the chief

19:21

of forestry, so often they were posted

19:23

on the edges of jungles where there was no

19:25

shortage of snakes. They would

19:27

come into the house to escape the heat and hide

19:30

in the rolled up carpets, and when the

19:32

staff would unroll the carpets in the evening

19:34

to set the home up for big dinners and

19:36

events, the snakes would try

19:39

to slither out, and then one

19:41

soon would call another and the molly the

19:43

gardener would come and clean folk would come

19:45

with this mixed stuffs, bix stakes

19:48

and just happy. To my mom,

19:51

like George, finds real solace

19:53

in nature. She can identify

19:55

most flowers and trees, and she is

19:58

crazy about animals, so

20:00

of course she couldn't stomach the way these snakes

20:03

were being treated. The poor

20:05

little thing. So I'm always thought that

20:07

my psyche had worked on it because little

20:10

and I felt sorry because I and my lover

20:12

that I felt sorry for the snake. So

20:15

my mom assumed these dreams were just psychological

20:17

but when my dad's family was like, oh

20:20

no, we actually have this long standing snake

20:22

curse in our family because we killed

20:24

some snakes clearing our land generations ago

20:27

or whatever the story was. And

20:29

believe me, I know how crazy

20:31

this sounds. They clarified,

20:34

your nightmares are probably coming from that.

20:37

That's when my dad's sister Indecca

20:39

stepped into help. Indeca

20:42

took us to a guy holy man.

20:44

He performed a ceremony for them,

20:47

but also he gave me a mantra

20:49

to sing, and

20:52

every day I had recited and so had of mesh

20:54

and slowly the fear of the snakes kind of

20:57

awaited and

20:59

then nice, so Shanta go in my dreams.

21:03

Shanta Derga is one of our family's

21:05

patron deities, a goddess of light and

21:08

wisdom and oddly enough fertility.

21:11

But she had four arms, that's what they depicted

21:13

her energy. As many times as

21:16

I've been to the Shanta Durga temple which

21:18

is also in Goa, or stared at illustrations

21:20

of Shanta Durga on family altars, sure

21:23

I've noticed the goddesses four arms,

21:25

but also she has

21:28

like three giant hooded cobra

21:30

sitting at her feet just facing you. So

21:33

before my mom said this, if you gave

21:35

me a pop quiz and asked me how many snakes

21:37

is Shanta Durga holding. I'm

21:39

not sure I would have known the answer, but

21:42

the answer is to two of her

21:44

hands are in these madras or poses

21:46

that indicate divine protection and

21:48

granting your wishes, and her other two

21:51

hands hold these tiny cobras.

21:54

Someone Shanta Durga came to my mom and a dream,

21:56

and my mom noticed the snakes in her hands.

21:59

I said to Brette, you know it, lose

22:01

all faith in you and said no, no, she

22:04

said, I can protect you as well as the snakes

22:06

and the tuition that will meet. And then

22:08

my mom, the lip major, the n

22:10

b A, the modern woman who had stayed

22:13

on bed rest for the full term of my

22:15

pregnancy, with a little bit of sitting

22:17

up at seven months, finally

22:19

had me. But it's so crazy,

22:21

right, because like it's not like our family is uh

22:24

steeped in superstition, and and

22:26

so why do we put faith in

22:29

in things like a curse

22:31

of a serpent? I

22:33

think anything works. When you're desperate,

22:36

boy, it doesn't cost you very much right to

22:38

go ahead and do? What would they tell you to do

22:40

and you feel like you've given it your best. That's

22:43

the main thing, yeah,

22:46

is that you're feeling about astrology? Yes,

22:48

I think so. I

22:52

keep mulling my mom's words over my head.

22:55

How anything works when you're desperate, How

22:58

it doesn't cost you very much to do whatever they

23:00

tell you to do. How you

23:02

want to feel like you're giving it your best. And

23:06

I guess that's true whether

23:08

you're trying to find love or unpacked

23:10

trauma or have a child

23:13

when you think you can't. There

23:15

can be comfort in the trying and

23:18

beauty and the wanting to believe even

23:21

when it defies reason. Arney

23:27

and the

23:29

chapter three, this is always

23:32

going to be a theme in your life,

23:35

so trust me, we all

23:37

get the irony of this. But

23:39

today George is about to talk to an

23:41

astrologer to find out

23:44

will I ever believe in anything or

23:46

will I remain a hardened skeptic

23:49

alone in the universe. I'm

23:51

excited to hear what Janelle thinks about

23:53

how philosophical his mind is and

23:56

whether his skepticism shows up in his birth

23:58

chart. Because George

24:00

is so open and witty, I

24:03

can't wait to hear him react in real time.

24:07

But something has changed since the last

24:09

time George and I spoke. When he logs

24:11

onto the video call, I can see that his foot

24:13

is in the cast. He's stuck on a couch,

24:15

reaching awkwardly to grab things from a

24:17

table nearby, and he's subdued

24:20

and clearly a little distracted.

24:22

I broke my foot last week, and

24:25

my whole next six eight weeks

24:27

is completely different. Now this isn't

24:29

the same George I met earlier, and I'm

24:31

worried. I mean, what

24:34

was I thinking bringing a total

24:36

skeptic who stops dating people when

24:38

he finds out they believe in astrology

24:41

to an astrologer? Why

24:43

did I think this would work? Okay,

24:48

from the moment I hit record, it

24:50

doesn't go well. Can you guys hear me?

24:52

Are we all good? During the taping,

24:55

Janelle keeps asking if George is still

24:57

there? Did I lose you again? Okay,

25:00

okay, all right? Any questions

25:02

about that? No,

25:06

But Janelle proceeds unphased.

25:08

Career is a big part of your life. In

25:10

your focus this mar says, I really want to

25:12

achieve something. You have Saturn in the

25:15

house of publishing, television,

25:17

radio, film for your Jupiter is King

25:19

of the castle and Jupiter as a planet is

25:21

all about fate. It's all about the things

25:23

that are fanned our mind. Fans are

25:25

our nigh and still coming out of

25:27

this dark fear. You're supposed to

25:29

be hopefully dreaming about what were

25:32

next for yourself. So Saturday in

25:34

the Ninth House says, I have a lot of fearing around

25:36

these things. Fine, faith and belief in religion,

25:39

But did I lose your again? For all the readings

25:41

we've done so far, no one is as

25:43

deeply unresponsive as George's. In

25:45

fact, he barely says anything. For

25:48

someone trained in improv he is not

25:50

yes, ending the situation in the slightest

25:54

um. Actually, now I forget

25:57

uh sure, yeah, romance, what's going

25:59

on? Muhhuh to

26:04

think about it? I don't know what's happening. I mean, she's

26:06

explaining all these things he said he

26:08

wanted to know about, all right, So are

26:10

there questions in particular that can help you with regarding

26:13

this? How else can I help you? I

26:15

don't know what would be an example of a question.

26:18

Finally, there is one moment where he

26:20

starts to open up a little. Janelle

26:22

is pushing George on his skepticism

26:24

and he tells her he just can't believe

26:26

in anything he can't quantify. That

26:29

skepticism continues with all things

26:32

unmeasurable, and

26:35

Janelle assures him that that's also

26:37

a part of who he is. That's the point

26:39

of Gemini energy, Like, discernment

26:41

is always going to be your friend, right,

26:44

I wouldn't worry too much about it, but I

26:46

do think it's always going to be a feme in

26:48

your life. Enjoy the process of discovery

26:51

versus feeling like skepticism means I can't learn

26:53

and everything's gonna be wrong. She's like, how will

26:55

you know unless you ask? That's

26:58

cool, so not entirely

27:01

success, that is until

27:03

I actually talked to George again. Chapter

27:15

four, How is this working?

27:19

I've been waiting to catch up with George to find

27:21

out why he was so distant during his reading,

27:24

why he wasn't engaged. When

27:26

I email him to find a time, he says

27:29

he's busy with work. He has a big

27:31

audition, and he's apologetic. But it

27:33

takes us a little while to connect. Not

27:35

only oh

27:40

good, just got a call back, So

27:46

tell me what do you think about the reading?

27:49

Because something really interesting?

27:52

Interesting? Isn't the word I was expecting

27:54

him to use you know, out

27:56

the gate. It was so accurate.

27:59

I was like, this is a dead ringer for

28:01

my life. But how is this

28:03

working? You know, as part of me was like,

28:05

there's no way this isn't a

28:08

trick. But I was surprised because like

28:10

I couldn't tell how you were responding. Yeah,

28:15

even if something was really on the nose, I would be

28:17

like, mm hmm, there's

28:19

something suspicious about that. You

28:23

know, Like when she said like something really

28:25

big was the language of like the

28:28

New Moon, and then something big

28:30

happened for you in May, it

28:33

was like, yeah, yeah, the

28:35

biggest career thing that's

28:37

ever happened was May. George

28:40

is playing it cool, but I'm kind

28:43

of blown away. In the summer of two,

28:46

George was named a new Face of Comedy

28:48

by the prestigious Just for Last Festival,

28:51

and it's the kind of thing that makes Hollywood notice

28:53

and launches careers. Yeah,

28:55

it's huge. It was for me a huge

28:58

deal. It was like the first time I got a big thumbs

29:00

up from you know, the gods of comedy.

29:03

Her opening was so dead on for

29:05

my life, like sort of the family

29:07

of origin and breaking out of like doing

29:10

your own thing, Like my grandfather

29:12

drove me past a photographers

29:15

art studio and it was just dilapidated,

29:19

very depressing building in Pittsburgh,

29:22

and he goes, that's going to be

29:24

you would be your life.

29:26

But like, as

29:28

much as I'm a skeptic, I feel like I'm such a

29:30

Gemini, I'm fascinated by Georgia's

29:33

push pulls. So I asked him a little

29:35

more about it. I have trouble when

29:37

people say, you know you deserve this, and

29:39

I'm like, oh, we are a random organism

29:42

spinning on a rock. I don't know that

29:44

humans deserve anything other

29:46

than like the basic biological package

29:49

of like love, community,

29:53

shelter, water, sunlight,

29:57

Like that's that's what you deserve, that

29:59

for sure, But like, did I deserve the part

30:01

of that show come on? During

30:04

the reading? What I assumed was this dismissive,

30:07

unengaged behavior where George

30:09

was looking down and mumbling these one word responses,

30:12

It was in fact him taking detailed

30:14

notes on everything Janelle was saying.

30:17

I mean, I wrote down a lot of what she said, like

30:20

choose people who are limitless with your growth, who

30:22

are joyous of your discovery. Your belief system

30:24

is changing, you're going to attract new people. I

30:26

have all my notes highly categorized,

30:29

so I have liken'll be like therapy, recipes,

30:32

comedy. I didn't even think about this. I

30:34

put the astrology reading into therapy. I'm

30:36

relieved that he got something from the experience,

30:38

a phone full of notes, it turns out. But

30:41

as we wrap up, I asked about

30:43

his foot. He sounded so

30:46

despondent about it the last time we chatted.

30:48

I'm curious how he's doing. But

30:50

instead of telling me how he broke it while camping,

30:53

he tells me how it immediately led to

30:55

some funny slash disappointing experiences.

30:58

After I got back from the are with my

31:00

broken foot, my friend was like, I'm going

31:02

to cook you the most delicious dinner steak,

31:05

keenwall salad. It's gonna like, don't worry.

31:07

He gets promised this delicious camp

31:09

fire meal. But then

31:12

when they're about to start prepping, they

31:14

realized a bear was

31:16

next to our campsite. All of our food was gone.

31:18

The bear had eaten everything, and

31:23

I was like, I just immediately started laughing

31:25

because I was like, that's perfect. Horrible

31:27

experiences are gold for George.

31:29

The worst the experience, the better the story.

31:32

Like I was just joking that I had a

31:34

really wonderful date, and I was telling my

31:36

friend, I'm sorry. I have nothing to tell you other than

31:38

we laughed, we made dinner, we

31:41

had great sex. You

31:43

don't need any details. But like the

31:45

other date that week that was really weird

31:48

and twisty and strange, We're gonna talk about that

31:50

for two hours. So of course it's

31:52

perfect that a bear ate his meal. But

31:55

when he's skeptical about love, I

31:57

was like, George, you have to be okay with the fact

32:00

that you might never find that. It is

32:02

like hitting the lottery to get it,

32:04

or his career. I have to be okay with

32:07

not getting that in the same way that I'm okay with

32:10

maybe never being in a take a Y T T movie

32:12

or like Wes Anderson, I would love

32:14

that. I would love that. I think I do well, but

32:18

they may never happen. I wonder

32:20

if these stories are just to entertain others

32:23

too, because George is a performer,

32:26

a really good performer, but

32:28

he actually believes in love. It's

32:30

why he goes on dates, and he believes

32:33

in his talent. It's why he keeps putting

32:35

himself out there, and as much as he doesn't

32:37

want to tell himself he's a believer, all

32:40

of his actions betray his incredible

32:42

faith. There is so

32:44

much hope in his tone. Do

32:47

you remember Apple Jacks the

32:50

commercials in the nineties. There

32:53

was always a couple of kids eating apple Jack's. Usually

32:56

the dad would come in and they'd like, take a bite,

32:58

and they'd be like, he doesn't even taste like apples.

33:01

And the kids would be like, we eat what we

33:03

like. You just

33:05

do yeah,

33:12

And I love that what

33:16

Georgia is seeking. I realized now it

33:19

isn't a reason to believe so much as another

33:21

reminder to be nicer to himself. It's

33:24

okay to eat what he likes, to build

33:26

his own meaning to be present.

33:29

He just needs another reminder that you're

33:32

a good snake. He's a good snake. You're

33:35

a good snake. He's allowed to be here.

33:37

You're a good snack. He's a good snake or a good snake.

33:39

Isn't you're allowed to be here?

33:55

Chapter five? It doesn't cost

33:57

you much. I

34:01

think about my mom's comment about why

34:04

she chanted those mantras to get rid of the

34:06

snake curse. I

34:08

think anything works when you're desperate,

34:11

boy, it doesn't cost you very much, right. There's

34:14

actually a study that illustrates this effect in

34:17

the nineteen eighties, and Australian psychologist

34:19

Graham Tyson determined that the same people

34:21

who don't believe in astrology in low stress

34:24

situations

34:26

suddenly are very open to it in

34:28

high stress situations. It's kind

34:30

of like agnostics on a plane when the turbulence

34:33

sits. But I

34:35

think that hints to something true about a lot of us.

34:38

How there's a reluctance to admit that you might

34:40

believe. Like I saw

34:42

this Pew study about India, where astrology

34:45

is clearly infused in the culture, and

34:47

it showed that while only forty four percent of

34:49

Indians admit to believing in astrology,

34:53

use astrology to plan important events.

34:57

But I guess that's what I admire

34:59

about Worch Like he

35:01

says he doesn't believe, but he keeps

35:04

trying, keeps putting himself out there.

35:06

And our actions often reveal way more

35:09

about ourselves than our stated beliefs.

35:13

On this show, over and over, I've

35:15

said I'm a skeptic that I don't believe in astrology,

35:18

and that is true, But Unlike

35:21

George, I've been reluctant to test my faith.

35:24

I mean, sure, I pressed a banana

35:26

to my palm on Wednesdays, but I

35:28

treated that as a comedy bit. And

35:31

yeah, I got some readings. But even

35:33

as I witnessed this miracle of astrology,

35:36

this eerily accurate prediction of

35:38

how my dad would fall ill and struggle

35:41

to make it through the year, the situation

35:44

doesn't look good for father. That is

35:46

this true Father. I borrowed myself

35:48

in disbelief. I stayed

35:50

aloof I taped other people

35:53

getting readings to tell me how you feel? How was

35:55

how was the coming into this? What? What were you even

35:57

thinking? I expecting to hear

35:59

that right, just we need to suggest this experience.

36:02

I tried to see if astrology could work for them,

36:05

tried to keep myself busy, tried to keep myself

36:07

distracted from processing my own

36:09

grief. And I've kept trying to

36:11

push the story away from myself. But

36:15

it is so clear that I can't. Every

36:19

episode starts light and ends with some

36:21

bitter sweet moment, not

36:23

because I intend to, but because

36:26

that's where everything always leads me. There's

36:33

this thing I've tried not to think about too much.

36:36

This supposed answer to all my problems, a holy

36:39

astrological grail of sorts. And

36:41

I've been so angry at astrology

36:43

in a way for being so right about my

36:46

dad that I haven't wanted to lean

36:48

into it. I first heard

36:50

about it from a friend right after college,

36:52

and then my cousin mentioned it. Then

36:54

Keep the astrologer from the Walkman and even

36:57

Dr Kumar the future of every

37:00

man. Already.

37:02

There are these little shops in India. They're

37:05

hard to locate, and it's

37:07

hard to find an authentic one. Pete tells

37:10

me there's all sorts of scam

37:12

artists, right like there's all these fakeue ones. Like

37:15

these shops hold all the secrets

37:17

of your life, your

37:19

past and present and

37:22

future. The day that

37:24

you show up, everything will change thereafter,

37:27

because, as the legend goes, your fortune

37:29

was etched onto this petrified leaf

37:32

hundreds of years ago in tiny

37:34

script and then bound in a collection

37:37

of fortunes. And if you give

37:39

your thumb print and tell them the day you were

37:41

born, it's just waiting

37:43

for you on a shelf, waiting

37:46

for you to discover it. Do you think

37:48

bumb leaves in tiny writings like

37:51

one inch by ten inch or something. So

37:53

if you leave his phone, everything

37:56

about you. Your name is, your

37:58

father's name is this, your mother's name

38:00

is this. You have so many brothers, sisters, you're

38:03

not married yet, and you'll know forty

38:05

two years away now that you've come to hear your

38:07

future. Even for you to know your

38:09

future is predetermined. And guess what,

38:11

No matter we've reached with religion, you're from

38:14

you Muslim or Christian, your father's name,

38:16

your mother's name, husband name, wife, Think what

38:19

greater validation? You won't done that?

38:21

As much as I've tried to ignore it, somehow

38:24

I can't get the idea of these little shops

38:26

in India out of my head because

38:29

I don't know what I'm doing, what I'm supposed

38:32

to be doing, And what if written

38:34

on those scrolls is an answer

38:36

I need. As

38:39

improbable as it sounds, I'd love to

38:41

know who's the person I meant to be, especially

38:44

in this moment when I feel so on moored.

38:48

Going to India where I can hear my mother

38:50

tongue again and feel the love

38:52

and warmth my dad's family, that

38:55

also feels like a good thing. And

38:58

honestly, if I can dwell

39:00

in this tiny sense of hope. If

39:03

I can ask enough people and actually

39:05

find these ancient leaves, maybe

39:11

it don't stop me from spinning. Maybe

39:14

they'll offer some direction, and

39:17

maybe they'll tell me what

39:21

happens next.

39:30

Shoot your up, just

39:39

let it all go, you figuring

39:43

it all out? Thank

39:45

you so much for listening to Skyline Drive, a production

39:47

of Kaleidoscope and I Heart Podcast.

39:50

This show is hosted and written by Me Mongay

39:52

Fatigular. But I could not make this

39:54

show without my incredible team,

39:57

Mary Philip Sandy. It's our supervising producer,

39:59

and even she refused to drink mango fruity

40:01

and Dace of Hollywood songs with me and the rest

40:03

of us, she is still incredible.

40:06

Mit Bonsha, he is our wonderful producer

40:08

who's been taking recording equipment to every

40:10

single party she goes to this month. Mark

40:13

Lotto is our incredible story editor

40:15

and might be the only person I know in Brooklyn

40:17

who loves paratas and coffee

40:19

in the morning more than me. This episode

40:22

was also produced and mixed by the insanely

40:24

talented Anna Rubinova, who worked overtime

40:27

on this episode. Because I was so behind

40:29

on it, Anna, I really can't thank

40:31

you enough. The gorgeous scoring and

40:33

theme song comes from Botany. Special thanks

40:35

to my Palace Him mon Chu Story for hyping

40:37

the show and Pete and J for Motor

40:39

Sales for their beautiful, beautiful music.

40:42

Thank you to Number that three. But the who runs

40:44

the most remarkable children's in print

40:46

out there, It's called Coquila Books. Seriously

40:49

go check out their work. My children

40:52

love it. Additional production and

40:54

research support from the wonderful Throove

40:56

Chiva Rao, Lizzie Jacobs, my

40:58

long suffering why if someone

41:00

buck Shee, Argent buck Shee, anyone named

41:03

buck she really? This show is executive

41:05

produced from I harp Or, my good pals

41:07

Nicky Etour and Katrina Norville.

41:10

Also thank you to my partners at Kaleidoscope,

41:12

Oz, Kay Costas and Viney.

41:15

You know how much I love you all. Special

41:17

thanks to Ali, Nathan Connal Will

41:19

and Bob at my Heart for getting behind

41:22

the show. And as always, a big thank

41:24

you to my Mama, my dad, Lalita

41:26

and who I thank

41:29

my lucky stars for George

41:31

Ava Lotus, an incredible comedian

41:33

in person. He was so kind to

41:35

share his story with us. If you haven't checked out

41:37

his impressions. Go do that now, including my

41:39

favorite this one. Your college

41:42

boyfriend who took one Shakespeare class.

41:45

So long as men can breathe and

41:48

eyes can see, so

41:51

long lives this and this gives

41:55

life to thee. She

42:00

Yeah you're different, you're different. I like you.

42:04

Yeah you're not like other girls. Yeah you've got

42:06

something different. I

42:08

mean, all of you out there are different.

42:11

Thank you so much for lending us your ears.

42:20

SWEA can't

42:23

wait to get you ristless.

43:02

Pres times

43:12

t T

43:16

times to